MarShawn, who just recently attended the NAACP awards with his mom, worked to organize protests in Ohio after Michael Brown’s shooting in 2014.

Along with being a vocal Black Lives Matter activist, the young leader founded two community service organizations: a mentorship program called Pursuing Our Dreams and a charity for the homeless called Feed The Streets. McCarrel was known for his compassion towards the homeless, urging people to go beyond just giving food.

The 23-year-old was named Radio One’s Hometown Champion for his work. The nomination detailed MarShawn’s unrelenting passion for those less fortunate:

“MarShawn stresses the importance of having conversations with the people we feed because they’ll get hungry in 2 hours, but a good conversation will carry them over for a lifetime.”